One of Sacramento’s leading voices on women’s issues didn’t start out that way.

“I kind of lived in a bubble,” said state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, who describes both her father and her husband as supportive. “Coming to Sacramento, I realized women’s rights are always under attack. It really made me want to be an advocate for women.”

That outlook inspired Leyva, 50, to sponsor several bills pertaining to women and women’s rights, including legislation passed by the Senate on Monday, Jan. 29 that mandates on-campus access to abortion-inducing medication for students at four-year public universities in California.

Advocates for women and abortion rights laud Leyva, who was elected to the Senate in 2014 to represent a solidly Democratic district that covers Chino, Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Montclair, Ontario, Rialto, Pomona and about a third of San Bernardino.

“There’s a lot of people who talk about women’s issues. They say they care. They vote the right way some of the time,” said Amy Everitt, state director for NARAL Pro-Choice California.

“You get someone like Connie Leyva – the difference begins to be really clear about what a champion looks like when someone walks the talk.”

Universal praise has not marked Leyva’s first four years in office. Her support of a challenger to a then-Democratic incumbent assemblywoman riled Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, who reportedly used the term “pulling a Leyva” for “a legislator (who) sticks their nose into someone else’s business.”

Leyva, a former grocery worker who was the first female president of the California Labor Federation, upset United Farm Workers by abstaining from voting on a bill that gave overtime to farm workers.

The union endorsed Democrat Richard Trujillo, one of Leyva’s opponents in the 2018 election. Democrat Shannon O’Brien also has filed papers to run against Leyva, who is defending her seat in the Senate’s 20th District for the first time.

At least one female elected official in the district is upset with her sponsorship of SB 320, which requires health centers on Cal State and University of California campuses to stock drugs needed for abortion by medication.

“Sen. Leyva is a social justice fraud,” said Grand Terrace Councilwoman Sylvia Robles.

Robles, who is anti-abortion, later added: “Abortion has failed to lift California women and families out of poverty. Leyva claims to want to empower women. Leyva could empower expecting mothers by supporting them in their pregnancies and offer assistance to allow them to achieve their educational goals, while being mothers.”

‘A champion’

Leyva — the Senate’s Democratic caucus chair, whose assignments include a spot on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls — had expressed interest in succeeding Sen. Kevin de Léon, D-Los Angeles, as Senate president pro tem when de Léon’s time in that post ends in March.

Robert Armenta, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, said Leyva’s attentiveness and hands-on style stand out. In face-to-face meetings, Leyva always takes notes and sends personalized thank-yous afterward, he said.

Take Back the Workplace marchers join with #MeToo marchers along Hollywood Boulevard to end sexual harassment in the workplace in November 2017. (File photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

If non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment and assault cases had been banned, “maybe the first woman that Harvey Weinstein assaulted would have been the first and the last,” Leyva said, referring to the Hollywood producer accused of assaulting or harassing multiple women, including high-profile actresses, over a span of decades.

‘Showing up’

Leyva said she works very well with her Assembly colleagues. Regarding her support of Democrat Eloise Reyes in Reyes’ race against Inland Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, D-San Bernardino – Reyes went on to unseat Brown in 2016 – Leyva said: “Candidly, I was looking for someone I could partner with.”

Leyva, who counts labor unions among her top campaign donors, said she regrets “laying off” the farm worker overtime bill. A Leyva spokesman said last year that Leyva’s vote was not needed for passage.

“There’s some personal issues there and it is what it is,” said Leyva, who noted her endorsement from labor leader and UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta. “The farm workers international – they feel differently and they have every right to do that.”

Giev Kashkooli, UFW’s political director, said the union was “deeply disappointed” Leyva did not vote for the overtime bill.

“If she regretted that vote and worked in the future to protect the (overtime) law, that’s one thing,” Kashkooli said. “A more generic statement about protecting farm workers – we’re less interested (in that).”

Everitt said she’s glad Leyva, who can serve in the Senate until 2026 due to term limits, is in Sacramento.

“She always makes it a point of showing up, which is half the game as there are fewer women in Sacramento – a lot are actually Republican women who aren’t necessarily voting in favor of reproductive rights,” Everitt said. “Voices like Sen. Leyva become even more important.”

Leyva legislation

Here’s a partial list of bills sponsored by state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, pertaining to women or women’s rights.

SB 813: Signed into law in September 2016. Removes the statute of limitations in California for prosecuting rape and related crimes.

SB 1015: Signed into law in September 2016. Removes the sunset date for overtime protections for privately hired domestic workers.

SB 320: Passed by the Senate Jan. 29. Mandates on-campus access to abortion-inducing medication at Cal State and University of California campuses.

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.